Of birthday gifts and birthday surprises
by Kirche
Summary: It's Komatsu's birthday and for some reason everyone knows that...except his partner. Belated birthday fic. Warning: crack!fic ahead.


So here's my contribution to this fandom, which really should have more fanfics. I'm sorry I'm not a very good writer but someone had to do something -_-

And thanks again anon, for telling me about the tumblr problem!

Warnings: swearing and bad attempt at crack/humour

Pairings: none

Disclaimer: I do not own Toriko, obviously

* * *

One week before his birthday, Komatsu realized Toriko doesn't even know it. They were coming back from a successful hunt and the Bishokuya was happily trying to eat and tell him what their next mission would be. Apparently it would consist of going to a remote beach and searching for the Caramel Coconuts. It's a weird ingredient to go after; not really rare or hard to get, but Komatsu was excited nonetheless; any trip is together with the Four Heavenly Kings is fine.

The chef starts rapidly planning the best meal to go with the ingredient. He stops, however, when he remembers what the date means "Hum, Toriko-san? Could we maybe go in the afternoon? The guys at the restaurant have been planning the birthday party for a while and it wouldn't be fair to cancel on them…"

Toriko just shrugged "Sure, why not." He looked about to continue eating when he remembered something "hey, are you the one making the cake?"

"No…" not that he hadn't wanted to, but his peers had insisted that on his birthday at least, others should make the cooking for Komatsu.

"Pity then, your desserts are the best" Komatsu beamed and would have thanked him if Toriko hadn't decided to continue "whoever it is, that person sure doesn't know what he's missing".

Komatsu's smile almost faltered but he managed to keep it in place. Really, he should have guessed Toriko didn't know when his birthday was. He had only recently found out Komatsu's age after all. Basically, his partner never asked about Komatsu life and the chef wasn't (as Zebra would say) cocky enough to just tell him. Komatsu knew it should make sense; it's not as if his life had anything about it that a Bishokuya would like to know about. And yet…Komatsu felt as if partners should know something, anything about each other.

Toriko finished his course and naturally asked for seconds. Komatsu forgot what he was thinking of and concentrated on supplying Toriko with even more food.

* * *

On the day, Toriko manages to arrive seconds after Komatsu is congratulated for the last time. The chef felt a stab of disappointment at the bad timing, but that doesn't last long; going on a trip with Toriko is like a birthday present, even if the Heavenly King didn't know about it.

…that is, if they managed to start the quest. Immediately after leaving the restaurant things began to go…weird.

First, Toriko assured him they needed to buy supplies in Gourmet City, which was strange since Komatsu was pretty certain that the Caramel Coconut didn't require anything special.

Still, off they went. Barely ten minutes after they boarded the train Toriko decided he couldn't wait for the food cart to arrive and left to after it. That was normal, and so was Zombie appearing out of thin air and drunkenly sitting to talk to Komatsu.

"Heeeeeey there kid" he drawled drunkenly, slinging one arm around the chef.

"Hello Zombie-san" Komatsu replied while trying to extricate himself as politely as possible.

"It's Zonge. Anyway, I hear you're leveling up today?"

"Huh?"

"It's your birthday ain't it?"

"Hum, yes, how did you-"he couldn't complete the question because Zombie shoved an unopened bottle of wine on his face.

"Ya know, some RPGs give users presents on their birthday and since I'm so awesome I'm like a mod, I'm giving you one!" Komatsu had no idea what a mod was, but happily accepted the gift and put it away. Zombie then tried to stand up put tripped on his own two feet and had to be dragged away by his lackeys.

As soon as they were out of sight, Toriko came back, arms full of food.

"Hey, anything happen while I was away?"

_Yes, Zombie-san knew it was my birthday._ "Not really…"

* * *

The next incident happened when they were in Gourmet City. Komatsu was trying to keep up with Toriko through the crowded streets when someone grabbed him by the shirt collar.

"It's been a while, Komatsu"

"Match!"

And before Komatsu could strike any sort of conversation, the Gourmet Yakuza gave him his present; a badge with the Gourmet Yakuza symbol on it.

"With this, you can access any place controlled by our organization. Oh, and Takimaru asked me to give you his birthday present" which turned out to be a book on the Gourmet Knights doctrine.

"Oh, wow…thank you these are ultra, ultra awesome! But how did you know it was my-"

"You better go catch up to Toriko, haven't you?" Match interrupted rather quickly. "I've got…yakuza things to do, bye!" he said rather out of character and disappeared into the crowd before Komatsu could say anything else. Sighing, the chef turned to go towards the direction he thought Toriko had gone. _Finding him will probably be easy, he is taller than most…_

* * *

2 hours later, Komatsu still hadn't found his partner. Not that he minded too much; he was currently eating one of Tetsuno's famous dishes for free as a birthday treat. And if that wasn't enough, she had been kind enough to promise to take care of all his birthday gifts until he came back to get it another time.

Between mouthfuls, the chef glanced at the small mountain of gifts he now had; there was no way he could carry that around.

It seemed as if for every 5 steps he took, someone he knew appeared to congratulate him and hand him something. So far he had met up with Jiro, Teppei, Mr. Patch, Yosaku, Melk II, Tom, Tina (who tried to interview him too, although Komatsu had no idea what he could possibly say) and even Warden Love, who was on holiday and searching for Zebra. And somehow they were all in a hurry, to the point that they never had time to answer Komatsu's 2 main questions: why are you here (this one specially to Warden Love) and _how did you know it's my birthday? _Even Setsuno kept remembering stuff she had to do in the kitchen every time he began asking.

He knew he should be happy that so many people were thinking of him but…Komatsu couldn't help feeling annoyed that everyone _but_ his partner seemed to somehow know it was his birthday.

_Well, unless Coco-san, Sani-san or Zebra-san suddenly appear, noone else is going to congratulate me. Oh, but if they knew, they would have told Toriko-san…_

The sounds of a helicopter too close for comfort cut off his depression. Komatsu looked up, screamed, and managed to barely avoid being squashed by a helicopter the size of a small plane.

Its door opened and out stepped two bodyguards, each grabbing on of Komatsu's arms and carrying him inside.

"W-what's happening?"

"The President will see you now!" one of them barked.

Five minutes later Komatsu's brain turned to mush as he tried to process the 7 figure number that was his safety insurance.

"But…but I already have one-"

"I know, I checked" Ichiryu cut through his protests "and it doesn't cover a _fifth_ of what could happen to you in the human world, much less the Gourmet one."

"And you said this is my-"

"Birthday present. No, there's no need to thank me."

"But this is too much!"

"Then consider it a reward for sticking around my sons for so long"

"I don't need money to stick around them!" Komatsu bristled "I do it because I like it!" he stood up to leave, but the President stopped him, beaming.

"I apologize, I didn't mean it" he looked as if he was trying not to laugh "what I meant to say is that it's a thank you present from me" Komatsu opened his mouth to protest "no, don't. I know you aren't doing it as a favor and that doesn't mean I'm not thankful for it. Now, I consider the Four Heavenly Kings my sons and as such it is my fatherly duty to take care of them and ensure that they're happy. To do that, you need to be safe…or at least as safe as you can be following Toriko around" he grinned and Komatsu couldn't help grinning back "Of course, as your partner, it was Toriko's duty to pay for this, and don't even bother contradicting me, but he's reckless and too airheaded to even realize someone normal would need a special insurance to cover all the hardships you'll face. I guess you're lucky you haven't needed it yet."

Deflating, Komatsu changed the subject "Sir? How did you know it was my birthday?"

"Like I said, it's my duty to take care of them, and that also means checking everything about people around them. Everything"

Komatsu knew he should be creeped out or worried about hat statement, but he had another pressing question "Sir, did you tell anyone about my birthday?"

"I might have told some friends, yes" Ah, that explained how people knew. And now for the last question…

"Did you tell Toriko-san, Coco-san-"

"No, why?" if Komatsu hadn't looked down in defeat, he would have noticed how Ichiryu was trying desperately not to laugh.

"Nothing, thanks again" he sighed "Hum, if it's not too much trouble could I go now? I still need to find Toriko-san…"

"I'll do even better and drop you off exactly where he'll be in a few minutes" as Komatsu began thanking and bowing to him profusely, the President made him put on a yellow backpack and hold a little cord on his hand. "Pull this and the parachute will open"

"Para-" the floor beneath him opened "EeeAAAAAAAHHHH!" he hollered as he fell.

For all his screaming, Komatsu was so used to this kind of situation that he didn't panic and managed to land perfectly. He had just managed to extricate himself from the parachute when Toriko came walking by.

"Hey, there you are!" he grinned, failing to ask where Komatsu had been, how he'd found him and, more importantly, why had he needed a parachute "c'mon, we need to…uh…grab some stuff in my house!"

"But why? I don't think the Caramel Coconut needs anything special…and isn't that why we came here?" Komatsu asked, noticing with some confusion that Toriko wasn't carrying anything.

"Uh…" The Heavenly King scratched his head "yeah, but it turns out I already had all I needed in my house, so we'll get it there!" he beamed as if he had just come up with an excellent idea.

Komatsu just sighed again.

* * *

_I don't think I've sighed so much in all my life, maybe I should start counting_ he reflected some time later, on the train, when Toriko had once again abandoned him to go search for the food cart. He looked at the totally empty compartment.

_Well, no more well-wishers no-_

"Whew, I never thought he'd leave!"

…_you have to be kidding me. Wait, did that come from the win-_

"GYAAAAAHH!" the chef screamed at the top of his lungs at the sight of Tommyrod entering the train through the window right next to him.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to scare ya boy!" Tommyrod, smiled as if he wanted to slowly and painfully eat the chef. But then again, that was his default expression.

"Y-you…came back for a rematch with Toriko-san?"

"Oh, I want one, but things are kind of busy right now, what with us going after those chefs and all-"

"_What_?"

"Don't worry if that doesn't make sense. Although," and he was leering now, "considering the way you're rising these days you'll find out soon enough…"

"…you're here to hand me a birthday present, aren't you?" he asked in defeat.

"Yes, and everyone's busy so they asked me to give you this-"

To Komatsu's eternal horror, Tommyrod opened his mouth so wide his lips were parallel to one another. Then, to add to the nightmare fuel, he put his hands inside his mouth and took out a parcel dripping wet with saliva and handed it to Komatsu, who placed it inside his backpack as if it was a ticking bomb (although considering, it could be something far worst, like one of Tommyrod's pet bugs).

The parcel was circular lump wrapped in golden wrapping paper "this is…hum…"

"Your birthday present from all of us. Oh, Stajyun says congratulations on getting a partner but you should have chosen someone with more talent than him and the boss said to tell you he has heard a lot about you and can't wait to meet you! Oops, gotta go. Byebye!"

"…at least…at least no one else is coming now?" Komatsu hesitatingly said to the thin air.

In answer, the air suddenly changed, becoming colder, while the colors turned dim and grey.

"…I…take back what I said?" he gulped, shivering.

_Komatsu_ an eerie voice called, and the chef felt it calling inside his head at the same time he heard it come from further away.

"Y-yes?" he squeaked.

_Come_ and suddenly his surroundings changed; gone was the train he was on, all was a deep blackness except for a golden path beginning at Komatsu's feet and directing him to what looked alike a large, tall man standing far away. Realizing he really had no choice, the chef walked up to the figure. But even up close the person was a blur, features unidentifiable.

"Who are you?" Komatsu was calmer now. _This_ he presumed, _must be a dream._

_Acacia_

"…the one who discovered GOD?"

_Yes_

_Oh, definitely a dream then_ Komatsu thought cheerfully…and then realized dreaming about the greatest Bishokuya talking to you might be very cocky indeed and hoped Zebra never found out about this.

_It is your name day, and thus I have come to bestow you a gift from Frohze and I. it will help you one day._

"Thanks but…why?" he wondered what the dream logic would be.

_You are important. The fate of the world lies with you._

"…why?"

_Without you, Toriko will never find GOD and it will fall into the hands of those who wish to use it for evil_. _You shall wake up now. When you do, look inside you backpack. Good bye for now, young chef._

Komatsu woke up to find that Toriko was back and, naturally, eating something.

"Want some?" he offered. Komatsu shook his head and, just to curb his curiosity, looked inside his backpack. Inside was the present Tommyrod had given him (pity, he had hoped that had been a dream too) and next to it…

…next to it was something wrapped in the most beautiful wrapping paper Komatsu had ever seen. It was silver and undulated like it was underwater…and it had definitely not been there before.

"Komatsu, you ok? You look kinda pale"

Komatsu fainted.

* * *

As he slowly came to, the chef was aware of several voices speaking at once. Of course, speaking wasn't the precise description; some were shouting, one was growling and one was stage whispering.

"-COULD YOU BE SO STUPID YOU BASTARD"

"Zebra-san we should keep our voices down, we don't want Komatsu-kun to wake-"

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO HAPPEN!"

"Really Coco, if Matsu could, he would have done that by now, hmm? Now, Toriko, YOU FUCKIN IDIOIT, WHAT THE FU-"

"FUCK OFF I WAS SCREAMING AT HIM FIRST!"

"For the last time, I didn't do anything!"

"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING YOU-"

"I troubled my _beautiful_ self so that-"

"We all worked on this surprise Sunny" Coco sounded exasperated.

"-so that he'd have a _beautiful_ birthday party and now-"

Birthday party? That was all Komatsu needed to become fully awake. He opened his eyes to find the four Heavenly Kings looking back at him with different degrees of relief (although a normal person would presume the look on Zebra's face was murderous intentions)

"I'm fine" he assured them when Coco started checking him over and, for once, he could feel Sunny's feelers doing the same.

"You gave Toriko quite a shock, what happened?"

"I…" _found out I talked to the greatest Bishokuya in history and he said I was important enough to receive a present from him_ "…was surprised by something. Hum…" looking around, the chef realized he was in Toriko's house, lying on his sofa. He focused, and noticed the room had been decorated for a birthday party or, to be more precise, three people's different views on what decoration that kind of party should have. The letters in the sign saying "Happy Birthday Komatsu" were written in a red ink that looked suspiciously like blood, so he presumed that was Zebra's contribution. "This…is for me? Wait" he turned to Toriko "you knew it was my birthday? How?"

"Well," Toriko scratched his head "Coco here saw a vision of people congratulating you, so that's how we found out and then we all decided to pitch in and give a surprise birthday party" he beamed "I got you fooled I didn't know, didn't I?"

"Of course, when he says _all_ of us, he doesn't mean this _disgustin'_ brute over here" Sunny huffed and made a show of crossing his arms and turning away from Zebra "he had to be dragged and then didn't let me use my beautiful glitter" Zebra scowled.

"You bet your ass I didn't, last I heard this was for this cocky little bastard –_and don't you dare get cocky just cause I decided to come, I just didn't have anything better to do!_- and not for a little girl"

A fight would have broken out, but was thankfully stopped when Komatsu started to cry in happiness.

The rest of their small party was all merriment and peace…

…until the Four Heavenly Kings decided to open the two gifts inside Komatsu's backpack and found out Acacia had given him his own skeleton had that had forever been missing from his corpse and their enemies had given him a studded S&M dog collar. Needless to say, all hell broke loose then. But Komatsu still loved his birthday anyway.

* * *

Err, so here was my attempt. Reviews and constructive criticism is always loved! Thank you for reading!


End file.
